Rise of the Red Hunters
by Pengping
Summary: The Death Game has 9000 people trapped within its world. Some work on expanding the human frontier to clear the 100 floors, and those who do are dubbed Clearers. A small group of Betas learn that the Clearers are ignoring another growing threat - Red players, murderers. The Betas take it onto themselves to put them in their place, and defeat some floor bosses while they're at it.
1. Old Friend?

In the Real World it was January 15, 2023 and it was snowing. On the third floor Aincrad, it was warm and the sun was shining.

Lyra supposed that was one good thing about being trapped in a video game; the forest themed floor was warm and she hated the cold. Lying on one of the roofs in this floor's town was soothing and the sunlight that poured down through the cloudless sky was slowly lulling her to sleep.

A three-note whistle rang through the air, shocking Lyra back awake. She knew that whistle, but it couldn't be… Slowly, she sat up, hand on her saber. Standing in one of the dirt paths of the town was another player of Aincrad. It was a boy about 16, her age, with long sandy-blonde hair and purple eyes.

"Alex?" Lyra rubbed one of her eyes.

"You going to come down or am I coming up?" The boy asked.

Lyra relaxing her grip on her saber.

"My username's still Jan," the boy promised.

She walked to the edge of the straw roof and jumped down to floor level.

"Do I get a kiss?" Jan asked cheekily.

"No," Lyra promised. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you since Kayaba's announcement that we can't log out. That was nearly two months ago."

Jan shrugged, "I've been busy."

Lyra narrowed her eyes. "Well whatever you were doing, you weren't doing any good. I haven't seen you helping fight the Floor Bosses. You were fighting them like crazy in the Beta test."

"Hey," Jan held up his hand. "I helped fight the First Floor Boss."

"And the second or the third?" Lyra challenged. "We've made it up to Floor Eleven and as soon as we find that Boss's Lair we're going up to Floor Twelve. The only way we're ever getting home is if we beat all 100 Floors."

"You've been doing fine without me," Jan shrugged.

Lyra glared at him. "During the Beta Test you were on the front lines, helping us get up to Level Ten. Now you're like all the other players, hiding behind on the lower levels hoping someone else will take care of the big bad boss and win the game for you."

"So what if I'm no Clearer like you?" Jan challenged. "In case you didn't notice, this isn't the Beta test. I'd rather not be risking my neck for a bunch of ingrates. You think the other 9000 or so players here care what you're doing?"

"You're right." Lyra snapped. "We have less than 9,000 players. We started out with 10,000. Over a thousand people, most of them our age or younger, are dead. I don't want to see anymore dead. An able body, front-line Beta like you should be helping, not hiding."

Jan bristled. "I should have kept my mouth shut and kept walking."

"Maybe you should have you coward." Lyra snapped back.

"Hey! You two are some of those Beaters aren't you?"

Lyra and Jan stopped bristling at each other and looked at the newcomer. It was a rather tall and muscular player with a longsword on his side. Surrounding him were four other players. They looked ready for a fight.

"I was part of the Beta Test," Lyra nodded. "Now, if you don't mind. I'm busy scolding my friend here."

"You Beta's. You lot abandoned all the new players to die and ran off to monopolize all the best quests. You refused to bother to help us," the first speaker sneered.

"My username is Lyra," Lyra told the man patiently, "Not Beta and my rank is Clearer."

"What's one of the Boss Clearers doing all the way down here?" The player asked. "More likely you're just hiding."

"That would be my friend here," Lyra promised. Jan glared at her as she continued. "You have not introduced yourself yet."

"Enzo," the first player introduced. "And you're lying." He grabbed the hilt of his sword. He was obviously used to players backing away then, but Lyra rolled her eyes.

"Let me see," Lyra hummed. "We're on Floor Three and judging from the lack of armor you lot haven't been close to the front line. My guess is your levels are between 5-10 correct?"

The looks of some of Enzo's gang confirmed her guess. Lyra sighed. "In order to journey out, it's a common rule that we have at least ten more levels the floor you're on. For Clearers that gap is almost twenty. My level is 25."

Jan looked at her. You didn't admit to being a Beta and you didn't say you're level. Lyra never was good at dealing calmly with bullies. 25 though, she had to be bluffing. Didn't she?

"You can let go of your sword," Lyra promised. "We are inside the boundaries of a town. No player can lose HP." She drew her saber. Its blade looked like it was made out of light. "This blade's name is The Aurora's Light. It's a Last Attack special drop that I got when I killed the Floor 10 Boss."

The group hesitated. Enzo scoffed, "unlikely Beater."

Lyra glanced at Enzo. "If you wish to push it then let us go outside where HP damage can be dealt. I have no intention of my cursor turning orange so you don't have to worry about dying. Then again, my attack power is high and you're HP is likely less than a thousand. Do stop calling me Beater."

"I'm not scared of some girl," Enzo snapped. "Not some Beater."

Lyra flicked the saber behind her ear, taking a step forward. The blade turned gold and the system assistance kicked in as her Sword Skill activated. She brought her blade in a crescent shaped strike, one that would have sliced Daizen from hip to shoulder had the town's protection not kicked in and intercepted it.

There was still a bang and a stupendous flash of light. Enzo went stumbling back and some of his gang caught him.

"Of course," Lyra smiled, "just because I can't deal damage doesn't make the lightshow any less spectacular."

"Hey, are you alright?" One of them asked.

"Am I alright?" Enzo demanded. He drew his longsword with a hiss of metal. "You're gonna pay for that. Both of you Beaters."

"Eh," Jan tensed. "I didn't do anything!"

"Good luck with that. You're too slow," Lyra promised them as she turned on her heel and ran.

Jan glanced at her, then at Enzo and followed her.

"Don't go too fast," Lyra told him as he drew even with her. "Let them follow us."

"Why?" Jan asked.

Lyra nodded up ahead. It was the gateway to outside of town. Jan grinned as he caught on. "Sounds like a plan."

Enzo slowed up as the two of the Beaters finally stopped and turned around. The girl drew her saber and the boy his longsword, leaving his shield on his back. They looked confident.

"Crescent Style?" Jan asked.

"Just like in the Beta test," Lyra nodded. She held her saber in front of her, blade pointing down, feeling the Sword Skill charge.

"At least Kayaba didn't mess with that," Jan raised his longsword over his shoulder.

Both their blades turned lavender. During the Beta Test, players had found out that there were certain skills that could be overlapped, allowing multiple players to do the same Skill even with different weapons. They dubbed these Sword Styles. Although it didn't increase the power it allowed the players to synchronize their attacks so they wouldn't have to worry about accidently getting in each other's way. One such one they called Crescent.

The two sprang at the group, not flinching despite the fact that all five had weapons out. This group clearly wasn't taking the game that seriously. Their blades were standard drops from monsters on Floor 1,2, and 3. They didn't stand a chance against Lyra's Level 10 saber.

Although Jan was merely throwing them back, Lyra's attack was destroying the bully's swords and sending them flying. Once they tore through the goons Lyra and Jan finished up the combo as both of them connected with Enzo. He was thrown clear back into town. Blue shards glittered as his goon's swords disintegrated.

"What was that?" Enzo watched in horror as his full HP bar dropped to yellow and then to red. They did damage. How?! In a safe zone?

"As you lot can hopefully tell, you weren't in the safe zone during our attack," Lyra said. "We were able to lure you outside of the town's boundaries. One combo nearly killed all of you."

Enzo looked. The boys Lyra had attacked had HP in the low yellow, and those that Jan had were in the low green.

"Still think I'm no clearer?" Lyra asked.

Enzo got to his feet. "Don't just stand there, attack her!"

"Says the coward whose hiding safe within the town's boundaries," Jan smirked.

The other members of Enzo's gang looked at him, furious at the truth.

"I said attack her!" Enzo shouted. "She's a Beta Tester, a Beater."

Lyra raised her saber warningly, activating a Sword Skill that made her blade shimmer dark blue.

Enzo's next shout choked up.

She glanced at Jan, ignoring the looks of the gang. "I'm heading back up to the Eleventh Floor. The monsters in the dungeons there will at least put up a fight. You coming?"

Jan glanced back at Enzo, but figured he'd pay the price for staying after his identity as a Beta Tester was found out. "Sure."


	2. PK

Jan and Lyra split a bottle of water as they relaxed in the town on Floor Eight, Frieven. It was forest themed like Floor 3 but the forest floor was covered in water so players had to walk on paths suspended in the branches. Frieven was like a series of giant treehouses. It was remarkable that so many players lived here. Any ones that did couldn't afford to have any fear of heights.

"So why did you say you were a Beta Tester Lyra?" Jan asked as he passed the bottle back, leaning against one of the trees. "Betas are outcasted among the other players if not out rightly exiled and you just admit it…"

Lyra shrugged. "I have no reason to be ashamed. We Beta's didn't do anything wrong. Yet we all hide our title, working solo or hiding in groups forever fearing that we're going to be found out. It's like admitting we're different, a bad different as if we were red players. If they don't like me being a Beta that's their problem, not mine."

Jan smiled and crossed his arms behind his head, the movement made a little awkward by the shield and longsword slung on it. "Leave it to you. You like breaking jurisdictions."

"Only stupid ones." Lyra promised. She looked at her hands in her lap, quiet. "I was one of them."

Jan opened an eye and glanced at her, "who?"

"One of the Betas who thought they were all that and abandoned the newbies to die," Lyra banged her head against the tree. "I went solo and was fine until the Floor 4 frontier opened. One of the monsters there was a spined wolf - a blue wolf thing with quills on its back. It can shoot the quills but I wasn't worried. One of the quills hit me and I ignored it. Then the paralysis affected me. I didn't know it was poisoned. It hadn't been in the Beta Test. One of Kayaba's surprises and it almost killed me. After that, I stopped being so… arrogant."

Jan nodded. "A lot of Betas found out about the differences and didn't live to tell the tale. It was the little things that tripped us up. The other players don't seem to understand either that we only made it to Floor Ten in the Beta. Once the frontier moved to Floor Eleven, any advantage we had of pre-knowledge was gone."

His menu dinged and a message notice appeared. Jan straightened and tapped it, opening the message. "Hey Jenny, it's from Merrik."

"It's Lyra in this world. I haven't seen Merrik since the announcement either. Let me guess, he's been solo to?"

"Yeah," Jan's eyes got wide when he read the message: "Floor 8, Lagoon Swamp Dungeon, trapped by red players. Help!"

"Red players," Lyra straightened, "I've heard of them, they kill other players and their cursors turn orange. They do it for fun."

Jan stared, "that's murder in this game."

"You've been hiding on Floor 3," Lyra snapped. "I doubt you've heard of them but they're active and growing. Merrik's here?"

Jan felt himself growing red in embarrassment. "The Lagoon."

"That's about ten minutes run," Lyra hummed. "Come on, before Merrik's name gets scratched off on the Monument of Life."

* * *

Merrik unleashed his sword skill, this one a six-point combo. Up, cross, down, block, up, slice, and the humanoid fish monster – an Aqua Beast – shattered into pieces. A screen confirmed the kill and Merrik collapsed to the muddy ground of the Lagoon Swamp. With a growl Merrik dismissed the screen. He was breathing hard, and a skull symbol flashed by his HP bar, alerting him that he was poisoned.

Hand trembling, he reached into his pouch and withdrew a green antidote crystal. "Cure," the crystal shattered, his HP bar flashed white and the poisoned symbol went away. Merrik took a breath; he glared at his HP bar. The poison that the Aqua Beast's claws were coated with had drained his HP bar to yellow. It shifted a few pixels more and turned red.

He looked through his inventory. One antidote crystal and that was it. No healing, no teleport, no corridor crystals. I hope Jan shows up soon. Not only do I have to fight all these monsters I have to dodge those red players and now my HP is in the red...

His sight sharpened as he used his Search skill. An orange cursor appeared in the distance. Merrik cursed as a second and third one showed up. He took off running, shoving his sword on his back. They won't even need a Search skill to track me; my footprints will be in mud.

"There he is!" Someone shouted.

Merrik ran. His Strength stat was high was but his Speed was low, like his Hiding. The footsteps behind him were loud, two, three sets. I can't fight them with just an Antidote crystal!

"Ai-Yaaa!" Someone shouted, tackling one of the red players.

Merrik half-turned and his foot slipped out from under him, making him splat to the ground. He shook his head and turned over. "Jan."

Jan parried one blade aside with his longsword and slammed his shield into another player's face. His sword lit up green and he dove into a combo, getting rid of one player's blade. Suddenly, his blade got past one's guard and ran the player through. He hesitated as he saw the player's HP plummet.

Another player swung at Jan. "Jan, behind!" Merrik shouted a warning.

The falling blade clashed with Lyra's saber and she angled her blade, deflecting it to one side and kicking the player. Sometimes the old fashioned fighting skills worked the best. Lyra reached into her pouch and threw Merrik a crystal.

Merrik grabbed the pink healing crystal in midair and quickly commanded, "Heal!" as he stood.

Jan finally managed to tear his blade free and the red player stumbled back. As the player hit the ground he shattered into millions of little shards that fluttered past Jan's face.

Merrik dispatched another, sword turned red as an eight-part combo was unleashed onto the red player. Realizing the tables had turned the remaining red player abandoned the fight. Lyra was too fast and her sword came down in an arch as she jumped up, blade blue in a vicious down stroke that killed the last attacker.

For a moment, all three hesitated. Then the adrenaline faded when they realized they were safe and relaxed. "Jan?" Merrik whispered.

"I just," Jan said blankly, "I just killed someone."

"Don't worry," Merrik promised. "That guy will have killed more than one player to have his cursor permanently orange."

"Why do I get the feeling you're used to fighting them?" Lyra asked. Jan seemed to be in too much a shock to ask her for a kiss.

"I've been hunting them, red players." Merrik sighed. "I used to be in a party of four until we were ambushed by a group of reds calling themselves PK's on the 6th floor."

"PK's," Lyra frowned.

"Player Killers." Merrik grimaced. "They said it very proudly to. I was the only one to make it out. I-I knew that there was a trap in the dungeon from the Beta Test so I sprung it and managed to get out but my teammates…"

Lyra put a hand on his shoulder. "You're all right now," she promised him.

"I've been hunting red players since," Merrik finished. "It's been keeping me busy since we got stuck here. You?"

"Clearer," Lyra nodded. "Scouting out Floor Dungeons and fighting their bosses."

Jan slid his shield onto his back and his sword behind the shield to the pre-equipped sheathe. "I don't see how three players are that big of a problem."

"There are a lot more than three red players," Merrik promised. "The top killer here was fighting Floor Bosses, but the Clearers have been getting better. Those that "fell from a great height" and jumped over the rail to commit suicide are all dead. Others that have been killed by monsters in general are already gone. PK's are the main killer of players now."

"Do you have any teleport crystals?" Jan asked.

"If I did," Merrik snapped, "do you think I'd still be here?"

Lyra reached into her pouch and handed him a blue crystal. Merrik stared at it.

"Unless you'd rather walk back…"

He took it and Lyra materialized another one for herself out of her inventory.

Jan raised his own teleport crystal, not saying anything. "Teleport: Frieven," he ordered, disappearing in a column of blue light.

Merrik and Lyra glanced at each other than copied him. "Teleport: Frieven!"

There was no sign of Jan when they materialized. They looked around for a moment before giving up. He must have used the Town's teleport gate to go to a different level.

Lyra shook her head. "I shouldn't be surprised."

"Why not?" Merrik asked as they walked to an inn. The sun was setting.

"You've been hunting and I've been clearing but he's been hiding out on the Third Floor town doing nothing." Lyra explained. "He helped us but he likely went to one of the lower level floors to go hide again."

"Jan wasn't like that in the Beta Test," Merrik sighed. "He was the lunatic that always took point, especially when it came to boss battles."

"If I remember correctly, he died thirty-two times in that month." Lyra pushed the door to the inn opened and they walked in, taking a seat in one of the booths. "He can't do that now."

"I suppose not," Merrik admitted.

An NPC walked over to take their order and they ordered some broth, the other food here besides bread and water. The NPC left.

"I wish he wasn't like this but some people, when faced with death, do different things then they would otherwise do," Lyra sighed. "I hid out in the Town of Beginnings nearly a month after the 2nd Floor Frontier opened before I finally left."

"Why did you?" Merrik asked. "Leave?"

"Remember the Black Swordsman from the Beta Test?" Lyra challenged.

Merrik smiled. "Kirito talked you into it, eh?"

"He's like that," Lyra shrugged. "I haven't been back to the 1st Floor since. Jan though, he hasn't been in the field much I don't think. No more than he needs to, just to kill monsters and gain col."

"That wasn't your first red player was it?" Merrik asked as the NPC came back with their food.

"No, my second. I had no idea they were the top killer now." Lyra sighed as the NPC wandered away again and they started to eat.

"You met Jan on Floor 3 right?" Merrik asked. "What was a Clearer like you doing down there?"

"Taking a break," Lyra shook her head. "The 11th Floor Dungeon is a real maze. We've mapped out 70% and there's still no sign of the Boss Lair. I got frustrated. If someone finds it while I'm gone Asuna will message me so I can meet with the other players to organize a raid."

"Asuna?" Merrik tilted his head to one side. "I don't recognize that name from the Beta Test."

Lyra shook her head. "I wouldn't expect you to. She wasn't in it. We used to be in a party. She fights with a rapier and it works well with my saber."

"Why aren't you with her now? Get into a fight or is she…"

"She's alive and there was no fight," Lyra assured Merrik. "A player called Heathcliff recently organized a new Guild called the 'Knights of the Blood Oath' a few weeks ago. They asked Asuna and me to join them. She did, I didn't. I don't work well in large guilds."

"Betas work best alone," Merrik agreed. "In the test, there were so few of us that we never bothered to create a guild. All we did were small, temporary parties for Bosses. Otherwise, we worked solo. It's a hard habit to break, especially considering how popular we now are." Merrik smiled.

"Oh yes," Lyra muttered sarcastically. "The paparazzi won't leave me alone." Her menu dinged as a message showed up. "What now?"

She tapped it so she could read. "I suppose I jinxed it when I mentioned it." She clarified at Merrik's frown. "Asuna just sent me the message. Boss Lair's been found. The group that found it had a peek inside. Floor 11 boss is called The Wild Whistler."

"Sounds interesting," Merrik admitted.

Lyra tipped her bowl up and finished the broth. "Asuna wants me to check in now. The raid party's commandeered an inn at Taft, the Floor Elven Town." She stood.

Merrik did the same. "Think you guys could use another sword?"

"It would be welcome," Lyra promised.

Merrik flicked his hand to bring up a menu and sent her a party request.

Lyra looked at it for a moment before glancing at him.

"You said it yourself, we work best in small groups. And I know you're fighting style. It'll work."

Lyra nodded and accepted it. Merrik's name appeared under hers and his HP bar materialized besides it. "Now, let's open a new frontier."

* * *

 **This story takes place while Asuna is still obsessed with clearing floors and doesn't take time to do anything else. As you will soon see, her personality and Asuna's clashes. The real problem unfortunately is going to be the Boss which they have badly underestimated and will pay the price for.**


	3. Floor Eleven

The inn at Taft was jam packed with people in swords and armor. Sprawled on table, was the 3-DImenisional map of the Floor 11 dungeon.

Asuna glanced up from glaring at a point marked in red, the boss lair, when Lyra and Merrik slipped in. Neither of them were in armor so it was easier for them to move around in the crowded room. "Lyra checking in," Lyra greeted Asuna with a smile and wave.

"Merrik," Merrik introduced. "I've been hunting red players but Lyra talked me into aiding you for the Boss fight."

"Another warrior is always welcome," Asuna promised.

"Red players?" A player wearing a headband with a katana glanced at him. "They're hardly a problem. We need to beat the game."

"What good is beating the game if all the players are dead?" Merrik challenged. "Fighting Bosses is the killer for you Clearers but for everyone else, PK's are the main threat. They wiped out my guild."

"You're here, that's fine." Asuna broke them up. "Klein," she glared at the player that had snapped at him.

Klein held a hand in surrender. "I didn't mean any offense, it's just surprising that all the able players aren't mapping dungeons." His whole guild?

"Let's get down to business," Asuna said.

"The Whistler's armed with a flute at first. He has a two sword in his belt but they weren't drawn. Another set is crossed on his back but his cloak is hiding their features." Kirito leaned back, "sound familiar?"

"The Floor 3 Boss in the Beta Test," Lyra realized.

"Didn't he make a storm inside the Lair so we had to dodge lightning," Merrik asked. "He didn't have so many swords last time though, did he?"

"Just the two on his belt," Kirito admitted.

Asuna tapped the table. "It sounds like you know its special abilities but not its fighting style. That's more information than we had a minute ago. Can you three list the abilities? We'll see how much matches up with what the scouts told us."

"The storm appears after the battle begins," Lyra continued, "lightning doesn't target players just a spot on the floor so you can dodge it. There's a pattern, it goes strike, strike, pause, strike. If you get a direct hit, you'll be paralyzed so we'll need antidote crystals."

"Once his HP hits two bars he switches from the flute to the scimitars," Merrik nodded. "They can be used like normal blades but he can cross them above his head in an 'x' shape and then swipe downward to unleash a wave of energy. It's designed to break shields so the best thing to do is jump over it. The shockwave only affects part of the Lair at a time so while one set's dodging the others can attack. That's what we did."

"Kayaba's changed a lot of details in the game since the Beta Test," Lyra cautioned, "so we can't be sure of any of that."

"It's good enough."

* * *

The players walked silently into the Boss Lair, weapons at the ready. After a few moments everyone was inside. No boss appeared but the sound of flute music started, scaring them.

The music was echoed around the Lair, making it impossible to tell its exact location. Torches lit up around the room, illuminating it. A figure in a tattered black cloak turned, bone flute to his lips, the hood pulled up to hide most of his features. You could still see a pair of horns coming up through the hood. Like all bosses, The Wild Whistler was giant. His hands were six-fingered, nails sharpened to a point.

The Boss raised his head at them and changed his tune from a mournful song to a faster, more intense battle melody. Storm clouds began to circulate around his head.

"Now would be a good time to attack," Klein muttered, his voice breaking the spell of the music.

The players attacked. "Squad A, take point, B reinforce, be ready to switch out." They obeyed their orders scattering.

The Boss was unfazed. He kept playing, fingers dancing along the carved bone. As the first squad engaged him he danced back, cloak rippling. Again, the music changed pitch and lightning struck from the clouds.

This was the easy part, just look and dodge. Lyra sidestepped it. The lightning shifted courses. What in the – Lyra flicked up her saber and shield appeared, softening the blow as it hit her and sent her sprawling. "Ow, that was new." Her HP dropped.

She looked up as another lightning bolt blindsided another player, a foot from the ground it bent ninety degrees to target the player and blasted them straight in the back.

"I knew it would be different," Lyra whispered. "It's targeting us."

The tune faltered as the Boss's HP dropped to three bars. Out of nowhere another pair of hands unfolded from the boss's back, drawing the scimitar's on his waist. It-it shifted its attack pattern. He continued playing the flute with one set of hands, summoning lightning but now the players had to deal with the swords as well.

"Leave it to Kayaba," Merrik muttered as he stepped up behind her.

Lyra hissed. This was bad. At least there were still players enough dealing damage that the boss's HP dropped. Suddenly, it turned to only two bars. The boss jumped away from them, flute clattering to the ground. It was eerily silent without its tune. The boss reached up with his spare set of hands and drew the other two swords on his back.

Again the players engaged, only a few of them now so the rest could watch and analyze his pattern. The Wild Whistler whistled a mournful tune and lightning attacked again. One player was knocked back by the lightning and the Boss hooked one of his swords around, catching the player full in the chest and throwing him up into the air. The players shattered in midair, HP gone.

"We need to pull back," Lyra whispered. "We need to pull back!" She shouted loudly.

Asuna gave a brisk nod of agreement and raised her rapier to catch one of the Boss's blades. You could see her struggling and suddenly another of his blades appeared. Kirito tackled Asuna to the ground, saving her. She jumped back to her feet. "Pull back! Everyone pull back!"

The players disengaged, running towards the door to the Boss's Lair. The Boss laughed and raised his four swords in a diamond pattern in front of his chest, tips touching. Energy flowed among the blades and condensed in the middle, a glowing orb of luminescent red/white light. It exploded from the blades into a shockwave pulse of energy, encompassing the entire Lair. Some players were slammed into walls or out of the door. Three players shattered.

"Come on, come on!" Klein shouted. He ducked back inside as he and his guild helped drag the wounded out. Finally, everyone was out. Kirito slammed the door shut.

That was bad. Everyone had panicked so badly that only a few had used teleport crystals. Lyra did a head-count, taking into account those that had teleported. They were missing seven people. Seven dead.

"What a disaster," Merrik muttered.

"I guess Kayaba did give him an upgrade," Lyra sighed.

The shock passed. "Damn Beta's!" One player snapped. "I just lost two of my guild!"

"In the Beta Test he only had one pair of swords and one set of hands," Lyra said calmly. "We said that our information was not perfect. We already told you that Kayaba changed the Boss by giving him those extra swords. He upgraded the lightning while he was at it."

"You sound like you're making a joke," the player snapped.

"I'm not," Lyra promised.

"Could have fooled me," he snapped, raising his blade.

Merrik instantly stepped up to Lyra's side, his own broadsword in hand.

The other player's surviving guild members went to back up the instigator.

"Hey!" Asuna shouted, stepping between the two. "Enough! We knew when we went in there that the Boss was going to be different, stronger. We've lost players to the Boss before. We'll regroup, restrategize, and try again."

"If those Beta's are going to be in the next boss battle then you can count us out. The Divine Dragon Alliance won't be here." the player promised. There were nine members in his guild still alive, losing that many players would be crippling.

Asuna gave a start, "Grow up!"

"NO," the player spat, "you grow up."

"It's all right Asuna," Lyra whispered, "We'll make ourselves scarce."

"Lyra you don't have to," Asuna started.

Lyra shook her head no, "you need them more then you need us."

Asuna looked at her sadly.

"That swordsman's a Beta to," the player spat, looking at Kirito.

"That swordsman also took out one bar of the boss's HP on his own nearly," Kirito promised.

"Everyone!" Asuna shouted over the growls. "Disperse. Return to your towns or headquarters. We will reconvene back at that inn in two days' time."

Lyra took out her teleport crystal and whispered, "Teleport: Second Floor, Ayrin."

She disappeared and Merrik followed her lead. Once they got to Ayrin, they used the teleport gate to go back to Frieven.

* * *

 **Yikes. That raid didn't go so well. Well, i suppose it's impossible that the players defeat the floor boss every time. You see what the Betas are up against? It's no wonder Lyra doesn't have much patience for the prejudice. Lyra's one of those people that fight prejudice while Jan is one of those who don't and just bend under its will.**

 **I wonder if Jan had been there if the result might have been different. I suppose we'll never know.**


	4. Killed By Red Player

The marble floor of the Monument of Life made Jan's footsteps echo. He had gone to Floor 1 after rescuing Merrik and only recently decided to see for himself just how big a threat red players were. Jan still wasn't sure what he would achieve.

A new Guild called the Aincrad Liberation Force had taken control of much of the first floor and Blackthorn castle, but had promised that anyone could see the Monument any time they wished. There were some of the guild members, all wearing the smae uniform, but they had let him pass unchallenged to see the Monument.

The bronze surface had the usernames of all 10,000 players. Nearly a thousand were scratched off. Next to the names the most common cause of death was: fell from a great height – suicide. There were only ones that simply said: _Floor 7_ Monster, or _Floor 9 Boss_ as the cause.

Then he saw the words: _killed by red player_. He searched the names, _killed by red player, killed by red player_. Horror grew as he looked. Killed by red player. All the players that had been willing to commit suicide had done so within the first month and all the stupid ones had been killed with monsters. The Clearers had gotten their act straightened out after the third Floor's boss so their number of casualties had dropped as well. The murder toll had risen in response.

"Killed by red player," he whispered. Merrik was right. The leading cause of death might have been monster or boss or suicide but not anymore. Now the leading cause of death was murder.

I should have stayed with Merrik and Lyra... I should have helped them...

He turned away from the monument and walked back out of the Citadel. Even though eleven floors were open, many of the players had remained in the Town of Beginnings. The market place was full of players and NPC's offering wares that they had made or traded off of some of the few players that strayed outside the town's safe zone.

All of these players, almost 8,000, are staying here because they're too scared to leave. A quiet undercurrent of cnoversations echoed the shouts of wares. It was almost drowned out by the hustle of the marketplace, but oyu could hear it if you focused. There were plenty of reports about monsters or dungeons, but then he heard orange cursor. He stopped and walked over to a crowd.

It was easy to jump onto the top of an NPC's stand to get a better view. The speaker was a male player, stripped of weapons and armor. "There were three of us and then five players came out of the fog and attacked us. They had orange cursors. Their base was on Floor 8 and we were only Level 10 or so, they had double the Levels. It was slaughter. They made me unequip all of my gear and leave it but they let me go."

"Why?" One of the players shouted. "Why you?"

The player shook his head. "I happened to be the last one alive. They told me to pass on a message." He stopped talking.

"Well," one with a spear asked, "what was it?"

"All the high level players are only Floor Eleven, mapping and clearing the dungeon." The survivor trembled, "so there's no one to stop the reds. If we want to return to the Town we have to give them all our drops and half of our col from the day's adventure or they won't let us back into town."

"That's crazy!" Someone shouted. "They expect us to give them all that? We won't have collected enough from the day's troubles to even pay rent for our rooms in the inn!"

"Then stay inside the safe zone," someone next to him snapped. He had a longsword on his right hip.

"Then we really won't get col!" The one snapped right back, banging the butt of the spear he carried on the stone street. "How will we buy food or weapons? We can't!"

"They're bluffing," the one with a longsword said simply. "They have to be."

"They wiped out my party," the survivor whined. "They won't hesitate to do the same. We can hardly petition the Game Managers. Here, anything goes."

Jan nodded agreement as the argument went on. "Yeah, anything goes."

* * *

 **I know this is short, but this is the heart of the problem. With no one paying attention to the lower levels, the red players have free rein to do whatever they please. Everyone who can stop them is too busy to even realize the growing disaster. After their defeat by the floor boss the high level players are, unfortunately, really not going to have the time to deal with red players.**


	5. Spy

Merrik and Lyra were silent as they sat in the same booth as before, eating the broth. That had been a disaster. Now everyone was even more upset with the Beta's. Lyra drew her saber and looked at it sadly. "What a mess."

Merrik swirled his spoon around in his diner. He agreed. For some reason, they hadn't dissolved their party yet.

The two of them were sitting there when the doors to the inn opened and a group of four players came in, laughing. Three members were talking eagerly but the fourth watched, apprising them like a hawk.

Lyra smiled, "at least someone's having a good day."

The smallest of the group, a boy with a rapier looked at their sad expressions. "Did you fail your quest?"

"Just the Floor 11 Boss," Merrik admitted.

The other members of the party quieted. "You two are Clearers?"

"We didn't clear much of anything today, just lost seven players," Lyra grumbled. "Hello again Raiku."

The boy with the rapier smiled. It had been a few months since he had last seen his friend Lyra. Raiku liked being with other Beta players. With them, if he let something slip, he didn't have anything to worry about. If he remembered correctly, Merrik was a Beta to.

The four gathered around. "I'm Talben, the leader," a dashing boy with a longsword and shield like Jan introduced. "That's Malik sulking back there, he's not social but he's good." The one hanging back barely looked up. "Those are the twins. You already know Raiku but the one with the axe is Aden," he introduced the other two members of the party.

They were twins. Thanks to Kayaba, everyone looked here like they did in real life. The two had different colored hair and eyes, and their weapons were different, but otherwise they were identical.

"Say, we're about to go to the Canopy Maze Dungeon, care to join us?" Talben asked. "If you two are Clearers then you shouldn't have much trouble."

Merrik and Lyra were surprised.

"As long as you don't troll all the monsters and let us lower levels fight." Talben clarified.

Malik kept his expression neutral with effort. Two Clearers? Say no, say no, say no.

"Maybe later, but thanks, we're still wiped form the battle." Lyra smiled.

Talben nodded but didn't push it. Malik almost gave a sigh of relief. "All right then, we'll be there if you change your mind. "Come on twins."

"Bye Lyra," Aden smiled, "Merrik."

They left. Merrik took a sip of his broth before realizing he hadn't introduced himself. How did he know my name? He looked at Lyra but she just smiled, Beta.

Outside, Malik slipped away from his party for a minute and messaged his real party, letting them know where they were heading and where to set up the ambush. He almost included the possibility of Clearers, but decided not to. This party had gained sufficient amounts of col and items, now was the perfect time for his fellow red players to take them out.

* * *

Raiku caught the monkey like things claws on her blade as Aden jumped over his twin's head, axe flashing to dispatch the Deranged Monkey. Malik and Talben took care of another. Their party was up in the canopy, walking on a floor of interwoven branches close to the sky. Beams of sunlight shot down from the thin covering of leaves above them. Their floor had holes in it so they had to watch their step. They were however, doing fine. A screen came up, telling Raiku he had just leveled up.

Aden tapped Raiku on the head. "Nice one bro."

Raiku nodded and dismissed the screen.

Talben shook his head at the antics. "Let's see, we can go up a level and walk on top."

"We could go down," Malik suggested. "The floor will be sturdier, Raiku nearly fell through it in that last battle. There will be more monsters as well." And red players.

"All right," Talben consented. "Come on."

The group used the leafy branches to walk around and down a tree trunk to a lower level.

Let's see, Malik thought. I need to dispatch Talben first. The rest of the red players can kill the other two. He's the only real threat. I'll get most of his gear.

Raiku paused, his Scout skill warning him about something. He couldn't quite tell what the problem was though. It was tempting for him to being up his menu and activate his administrator privileges to find out but if he did that, his secret would be out. Better to just wait and see…

Malik raised his sword in warning. Some of the lower hanging branches rustled as something moved behind them. They glanced that way and scattered as throwing needles attacked them.

Monsters don't use throwing needles! Aden realized as he jumped aside. He rolled with the impact and came up on his feet, separated from his twin.

Talben gave a start suddenly and Aden turned in shock to see that there was a sword through his chest. Their party's HP was in the low green, yellow nearly, form their fights. His party leader's HP dropped from yellow to red.

Aden attempted to jump over and help but felt a sword slice through his chest and saw his own HP dive. Their attackers were players with orange cursors. "Red players," he whispered.

Talben's image suddenly shattered. Malik lowered his sword, green cursor turning orange as he stepped closer. Traitor. He's a traitor and he led us right into a trap. That's why he wanted us to go down and not up! Raiku raised her rapier, letting a Sword Skill charge. I'm not going down without a fight. He glanced his twin's way and Aden nodded back at him.

One of the red players shattered without warning, scaring everyone. Standing where he had been was Lyra. She lowered her saber. "It seems I was right about an ambush."

Merrik easily parried the blows and unleashed an eight-move combo, nearly killing another red player. "We're Clearers you lot, and I for one, enjoy hunting." He ran at Aden, taking on another red player. Things exploded with the Clearers in the fray.

Malik, Raiku breathed, where's Malik?

Aden found him first. "Traitor!"

Raiku saw him next. "I got him," he promised his twin. He drew his needles and threw them to the right of Malik. Malik jumped left, right into a pile of vines. The leech vines rose from the floor and grabbed Malik's ankles, wrapping around his legs. Got ya. Raiku got hit by one red player, and struck back, sword skill turning his rapier red as he thrust.

Aden feigned being pushed back by his opponent. Once he reached a gap in the leaves he used the leaves on the edge of the hole as a spring board to jump up as he opponent swung. Off balance, they fell though the canopy.

In no time at all, they were all dead. The group slowly relaxed. "Good thing I remembered how springy those leaves were from the Beta Test," Aden grinned.

"Go Betas," Raiku muttered, walking over to where Malik was hacking at the vines with his sword to no avail. The vines and steadily draining his HP. Now, they were up to his waist, immobilizing him "It's called a leech vine. A nice little touch from the Beta Test."

"You-all four of you are Beta?!"

Lyra replaced her saber. "We Beta's made it up to Floor 10 and this is Floor 8 so we do have some extra information." She remembered the disastrous boss fight before. "They don't always work but sometimes they do."

The leech vines grew up to his chest, tendrils reaching for his arms. Malik tried vainly to struggle and the vines managed to grab one of his forearms.

"Fool," Merrik chastised. "Any Beta would know that the more you struggle the quicker your HP gets drained." The secret was to go completely limp, slow your heartbeat. It fed off of Sword Skills so you had to play dead. Then it would let you go.

Lyra turned to the twins, "I'm sorry we took so long."

Raiku shrugged, "Talben... You came at least. We needed the backup."

"Are red players really growing so fast that they're planting spies among green ones?" Aden asked.

"I doubt Malik's the only one." Lyra muttered. She watched Malik as the vines twined up to his neck, touching his cheeks. His arms were bound to his sides.

"There are Clearers," Raiku said suddenly. "Aren't there any players hunting these guys?" He flicked his hand to open his menu, he needed a healing crystal but accidentally flicked his left hand instead of his right and the larger administrator screen. He quickly dismissed it. Lyra and Merrik were speaking to each other and hadn't seemed to notice his slip up. This time he flicked his right hand and the normal player screen came up.

"Just me," Merrik smiled. "Clearing dungeons is important, but so is keeping players alive. Then again, a few more in our party wouldn't hurt."

"Count me in," Aden promised, "Talben was a good person. Brother?"

Riaku scuffed his foot. "All right, but only because I don't have to pretend I'm not a Beta with you guys."

The vines grew up to Malik's head, muting him, closing so his body could not been seen through his leaves. Suddenly there was a shattering noise and the vines collapsed to the ground. The shards of Malik fluttered through the canopy and faded.

* * *

 **Here is where it starts. At least there are a few players out there that care about more then just beating the game. Worse, it has to be Betas who save the day even after how badly they are treated.**


	6. Clean Up

Jan checked today's wins as he headed out of the dungeon. it was not bad considering it was only a Floor 1 dungeon. He hadn't leveled up yet, oh well. A swipe and his menu vanished. It was nearly time to head back into town and say hello to the new tax collectors.

Jan walked towards the Town of Beginning. When he had walked out of the town this morning eight red players had been lounging around the entrance and had let him pass unchallenged. Would they keep their earlier promise of taking his wins?

As he neared the entrance two of the reds materialized, smirking. "Have much luck?" The one with green hair called.

Jan purposely hadn't put up his sword and he nodded, twirling the blade with one hand, "Not too bad." He didn't stop walking.

As he drew nearer, the reds stepped directly in front of him. "Open your inventory then, let us see what drops you got." He opened a trade window. "Give half your col while you're at it."

So they did intend to push their ' _tax_.' "What if I don't?" Jan asked.

Green hair whistled and three more reds appeared.

Jan apprised the new intruders, "I see."

The green hair had raised his left arm slightly and Jan saw a very weird bracer on it. There were three bars of metal that ran from elbow to wrist. Jan hadn't seen anything like that before. Is that his weapon? He doesn't have a blade.

Jan was glad he'd taken the precaution of transferring all his gear and col to another account. All he had with him currently were today's wins. Calmly, he accepted the trade as they wished and got one col in return. When the trade was confirmed they reds stepped aside and let him walk into town.

So, it didn't look like they were bluffing, this might be interesting. Jan sat down near the entrance, wandering what some of the other players might do as they came home.

These were red players. If they killed him, they had a chance to get some of his gear and a percent of his col. By making him give it up in a trade, they got far more and let him live knowing that he would have to leave the town again at some point. That strategy in itself was impressive.

Jan had teleport crystals and he could easily teleport back into town and go around them, but few other players could. The only way to get teleport crystals was to buy them and they were expensive. Players on this floor likely didn't have enough col earned since the start of the game to be able to buy even one. Thanks to the tax, they would lose half of it and make it nearly impossible to save up.

In order to safely dodge the reds, every player of their party would have to have a teleport crystal and they would have to have it every time they went hunting. It was simply too expensive for players to do that.

A party that Jan had crossed paths with that day walked up the path a few minutes later. It was one of the members of a group of five. They hesitated as the reds approached them, one was that green-haired guy. A few other players had congregated near the entrance, curious.

Jan was too far away to hear what they were saying but they were obviously asking for their 'tax.' He frowned and recounted. There had been five before, but now there were only four.

The leader shook his head no. Jan could hear him now faintly. "We just lost one of our party today, don't think we're giving you killers anything else."

He tried to walk forward but the green-haired red shoved him back. "Give us what we ask and we let you go back to the safe zone. Don't and we kill you all."

"I won't be some spineless coward too scared to fight," the leader promised. "Now step aside or we make you."

"Heh," green hair smiled. "Wrong answer."

Jan tensed as all eight reds encircled them. He couldn't see what was going on but could hear the distinctive shattering sound of an avatar's HP hitting zero three times. His instincts wanted him to interfere, but his common sense stopped him.

The reds parted. There was only the party leader left, HP in the red. "We are not bluffing!" green hair shouted, "give us our tax or this will happen to you."

He shoved the survivor forward and the a red stabbed the player straight through. His target's HP dived and he shattered.

"We are not bluffing," the red repeated. "Our numbers are scattered across the entrances of all the town from here to Floor Five so unless you want to go up to the human frontier where the Clearers are, you'll pay our tax."

Jan slipped away, having seen enough. He flicked a hand downward as he walked to open his menu, and went to the friends list. A tap on Lyra's name and he opened up a message box to her. When he finished typing his message, he hit send.

All right Lyra, you helped me save Merrik. Now help me clear out some red rats.

* * *

"Are you sure we can handle it?"

"Oh come on Kin, let's just go a little further in and then we'll head back. We can get all sorts of EXP and drops." The leader of the party smiled as he and two other walked out of the safe zone of the Floor Four Dungeon with weapons raised. Zaku knew that his guild were high enough leveled to handle the monsters here.

Monsters weren't the threat, though the guild didn't know that. The party had only gone a few steps down the hallway before three players walked into sight in front of them.

The group paused, unsure. Kin glanced back to see that four players were suddenly between them and the safe zone. She gulped, "Orange cursors."

Zaku looked around at them. "Oi, you lot are player killers aren't you? Go away before you make us kill you."

The red players laughed.

Kin inched back towards the others, spear in hand. "Why are they laughing?"

"We're laughing little girl," one of them said, "Because you lot think the Floor 4 dungeon is hard. Our levels are in the 20's. I'm guessing yours are less."

They were. And were outnumbered almost three to one. Monsters we can handle, they're just programs, but other players… Zaku clenched his blade.

"I suggest you reds back away right now," another voice called out. Lyra raised her saber to the red that had spoken. "Pretty please."

Kin's eyes got huge. "L-Lyra!" Lyra was one of her friends. "No-no, you can't beat them!"

Three more players walked out to stand near Lyra. "Relax Kin, we've been hunting reds of late, a few more won't hurt."

The reds hesitated.

"The other Clears don't want us Beta Testers with them fighting bosses so I guess we'll have to settle for reds," Lyra smiled. Her blade glowed lavender. "Kin, you and your party don't move. Crescent style."

All four of their weapons turned lavender, and they sprang into action. Four different style weapons and all four were using the same Sword Skill. The four were in sync, their steps, their moves, it was almost like they were choreographed. Kin watched in awe as the group attacked the three in front.

The boy with a rapier went past them to the four in the back, attacking them before they could reach the safe zone. Another with an axe – they looked like twins – sprang to his side. One red player shattered and Zaku attacked another trying to blindside Lyra.

Kin raised her spear to catch one of the red's falling swords so it didn't hit her. She flinched back, scared. The boy with the rapier unleashed a four-move combo that shattered her attacker and then jumped to another red running for the safe zone.

Again, his rapier flashed and he moved faster than the eye could track as he jumped at the red. Suddenly he was in the safe zone in front of the red, rapier in a position that suggested he had struck. The red stood there for a moment and then shattered.

There was one red left. Merrik made to kill that red as he ran away but Lyra flicked her saber in front of him. "Hey!" Merrik whined. "He's getting away."

"I know," Lyra replied calmly.

Merrik glared at her.

"Having to fight every red we come across is getting tedious," Lyra explained. "Why not let one live to spread the word among the other PK's that now they are being hunted? It will make them scared, and they might not be so bold if they are scared."

Merrik growled but let his broadsword relax.

"Thank you," Zaku said honestly. "That would have been an interesting fight without your help. What is your guild's name?"

"Guild," Aden asked curiously.

Raiku opened his mouth to say something.

"I know what a guild is." Aden clarified.

Raiku closed his mouth and snapped his rapier back into its sheathe with a smile.

"We're just a group of players," Lyra shrugged. "You already know my name. That hothead that almost chased after that last one's Merrik. The twins are Raiku and Aden, Aden's got the axe."

Zaku nodded. "I heard what you said about letting that one red go to spread word that they're being hunted. It might be more effective if you have a name or a uniform. Like the Knights of Blood, everyone knows who they are because of their clothes without even needing to ask."

"Logical," Raiku said as he walked past Aden. He nodded at Kin. "We're all Beta Testers, maybe we could wear a Beta symbol."

Merrik rolled his eyes.

"What?" Raiku asked. "It's not like we're some of the minority of bad Beta's that just abandoned the newbies."

"You're Beta's?" Kin eeped. "But you're good guys."

Lyra winced and her party cringed. "Only a few Betas were selfish enough to abandon you lower-levels." Her thoughts strayed to Jan. "Most however, are Clearers expanding the human frontier. We're just protecting the lower levels."

Zaku bowed. "I for one apologize for the poor assumption. If all Beta are like your party then you're some of the best of us trapped here."

Lyra returned the bow. "It's a common misunderstanding. Your group should be fine now. I think there was just that one group of reds. We're going to do a full sweep of the dungeon anyway so you might see us again." She motioned and the other members of the group came over to her.

Zaku and his guild waved goodbye and decided to head back into the safe zone to relax until the shock sank in.

After a few hours more of hunting and finding nothing but monsters, Lyra and her group decided to call it quits and headed out of the dungeon. The instant they left the Dungeon Zone, Lyra's menu alerted her that she had a message waiting. Was it Asuna asking for their help again?

Lyra tapped it open and stopped walking. "Oh gods," she whispered. She closed her menu and quickened her pace.

"Mind letting us in on the secret," Aden asked.

"Jan's in the Town of Beginnings," Lyra explained as she walked. "The red players have taken control of the town entrances from Floor 1. To get to the safe zone you pay them everything you've got nearly or they kill you."

Merrik smiled. "Sounds like we have some hunting to do."

* * *

 **And here begin the hunters. This is quite an interesting ploy the red hunters are trying and at this point in the game this early, all of the Clearers are obsessed with clearing and nothing else.**


	7. Rise of the Hunters

A group of six players headed for the entrance to the Town of Beginning. They walked fearlessly. Jan walked along the roofs, pacing them. He had already focused on them and the system had brought up their HP bar. If you were a member of a guild then your guild's symbol appeared next to your HP bar. They were part of the Aincrad Liberation Force.

The Army was clearly not going to tolerate the attackers. Calling them The Army threw him off a bit since they were wearing the same uniform now. Jan glared at them unnoticed. Why can't you idiots just wait for Lyra and Merrik to get here? They're Clearers, they can handle them.

He sat on the outer wall as the Army approached the entrance. The reds outside snapped to attention. They looked wary at the new group. The green-haired player cleared his throat and the nervous reds readied their weapons for a fight.

Just as Jan thought, the green-haired red was the leader of the group.

"I am Kobatz and I am in charge of these players. You are ordered by the Aincrad Liberation Force to leave at once." The lead green said from just inside the safe zone.

Why not just call themselves The Army? Jan mused. They're all wearing those ridiculous helmet and armor. He kicked the wall with a heel as he perched, thinking.

The green haired player caught the movement in his sight and glanced at him. They apprised each other slightly. He looked back to the player speaking. "I am a red player under orders, and you would do well to go run along back that castle of yours."

Orders? Red players worked solo. The fact that such a large group had worked together was remarkable, but if they were under orders... That meant that they were becoming organized and _that_ thought boded ill for Aincrad.

"You are ordered to leave red," Kobatz ordered back.

The lead red player eyed him in amusement. "First off my username is Casim, second, didn't you just hear me?" He shook his head and flicked his hand up to his team. They spread out in a half-circle shape around the town entrance. "If you want us to leave, come make us."

Kobatz glared at him and walked out. Warily, his men followed.

Jan put a hand over his face. What an idiot. Their numbers were about the same, but red players were good at fighting players. Green players were better off fighting monsters.

Casim's armguard shifted and three metal claws shot out not unlike X-Man.

So that was what that did, Jan frowned. He's too cocky. You'd think a red wouldn't want to fight such near even odds.

"Moonlight Style," Casim ordered, raising his claws. They glowed a pale green. Three others copied his movements, falling into their own stances. Their weapons all lit up that same green shade.

Jan swore and jumped off the wall to land in front of Kobatz. Kobatz jumped. "You're bloody Beta's the lot of you aren't you. Only the Beta's know how to overlap skills to make styles. You're not exactly helping our image."

Casim shrugged. "Oh well. It's not like it matters. The people we kill just get their avatar's destroyed and wake up in the Real World."

"Is that what you believe?" Jan leaned back.

"Why do you think we reds don't mind killing?" Casim shrugged. "Now I get to add more to my tally."

"No you don't," Jan glanced at Kobatz. "You need to fall back."

"The Army never retreats,"Kobatz snapped.

Jan shook his head, "Styles are in a league of their own from Skills. A Skill makes you stronger. Styles raise your power exponentially. The more people using the same Style the stronger it gets. There are four people using the same style. That means its power has been raised from 4 players to as if there were 4*4 players. Their attack now has a strength of 16. You don't stand a chance. All you'll do is a suicide run."

"How do you know so much about this?" Kobatz demanded.

"I've fought reds before," Jan said simply, not wanting to give away his past as a Beta.

Casim apprised him again. If that swordsman had fought reds before then he had clearly killed them.

"Go back," Jan repeated. It seemed he had scared Kobatz's companions if not Kobatz. They were backing up. Kobatz glared at his squad but realized that he wasn't going to talk them into fighting. Jan let out a breath when the guild backed up.

Casim let the glow of his claws fade and allowed Jan to walk back into the town unhindered. Only Betas knew about Styles. From his stance, Jan was irritated that the Army were attacking so early. He must have reinforcement's en route. I'll bet they're Beta's too. Style vs Style, this should be fun.

* * *

Jan lounged by the entrance of the town, watching the red players. They were watching him right back. It had been an hour since he had shot off his message to Lyra and half an hour since the Army nearly got themselves killed.

Come on, somebody try and come back to town, Jan thought. This is getting boring sitting here. He had seen three groups of players leave, two less than yesterday.

Finally, one of the parties headed back. Instantly, two reds appeared in front of them. Casim did the talking. A trade screen appeared before the returning players. They looked miserable, but willing to comply.

Jan put two fingers to his lips and let out a shrill whistle. The reds jumped in surprise, and Jan hopped down. He walked towards the group, leaving the Towns safe zone. "All right, you reds have been getting enough dough. Let them pass."

Casim blinked at him and smiled. "I had a feeling you would cause trouble Beta."

Jan pretended to not care, "my name's Jan."

"I remember that name from the Beta test. You always took point in the Boss fights. How many times did you die that month, fifty?" He snapped his fingers at the poor green players they were holding up, "let those two go, we'll deal with this one instead."

"Casim?" One asked.

"I said, let those two stragglers go. We'll put this one in his place first." Casim glared at his companion when he hesitated. "Did the Prince of Hell put me in charge or not?"

They backed up and the two players ran for the safe zone.

"Prince of Hell?" Jan frowned, "must be a leader."

"Something like that," Casim shrugged. "It won't be your problem much longer."

"Oh, I disagree," Jan smiled.

Four players walked out of the town safe zone to stand by him. The reds hesitated.

"My name is Lyra," The girl in the lead introduced, "Level 25."

Now the reds tensed. Lyra was a name they had heard.

So she doing that was she? Merrik smiled, "Merrik, Level 23."

The twins jumped in. "Raiku, Level 20." "Aden, Level 21."

"Jan," Jan needlessly introduced, "Level 16."

"Maybe you reds have heard of us?" Lyra asked. "We used to be on Floor 8 but we were just on Floor 4. Incidentally, there was no sign of reds other than the ones wandering around dungeons that we killed. Certainly none guarding the towns." She turned and raised her voice. "The only town whose entrance is guarded is Floor 1. All of the others are clear, we checked them ourselves. One by one. The red's are bluffing."

The people inside the town murmured.

Casim looked at them in panic.

"I have heard reports of a red player called PoH, the Prince of Hell, and I do believe that he gave you authority," Lyra turned partially back to Casim. "We've been hunting red players. The Clearers don't like working with Beta Testers like us are so we'll have to settle for protecting the lower levels and bringing you reds in line."

"Beta Testers," Casim whispered. "Maybe you've heard of the username Tasim then? Another Beta?"

"I remember one named that," Aden nodded.

"That was me," Casim admitted. "I was in a rush when I created my account, it was a typo. Casim sounds much better."

"It does," Aden agreed.

Raiku rapped him on the back of his head with his rapier.

"What?" Aden demanded, "It does!"

"Whether you're a fellow Beta or not, it makes no matter," Merrik promised. "You red players wiped out my guild, so I'm going to take down every one of you and make sure you stop killing innocents."

"If you're going to run away Reds, now would be a good time," Lyra warned, raising her saber.

None of the reds moved, out of shock more than anything else.

"No takers?" Lyra asked. "Fine by me. Crescent Style."

Her blade turned lavender, and the rest of her friends mimicked her. All of their weapons took the same hue.

"Style," Casim whispered, "you can overlap sword Skills? You lot are Beta's then. Kayaba made it so only Beta's can use Sword Styles." His claws snapped out on his arm, "Moonlight Style," His turned pale green and those of his reds that were Beta's did the same.

Lyra shot forward, saber singing.

Casim's reds jumped to intercept. Combos hit and colors flew. Merrik used Crescent Style in a three-move combo that broke the sword of his opponent and another move to slice him clear through. Red pixels simulating blood flew and he attacked again and again, and then the red shattered. Another red jumped in, this one using Moonlight Style against Merrik's Crescent to even the odds.

Casim stepped back as Lyra beat another red not using a Style. He raised his claws up, batting Jan's sword aside and slashing, claws still green. Jan ducked behind his shield.

Casim swore and attacked again. Again, Jan's shield saved him, but Casim's combo wasn't done yet. It raked across his shield and then he twisted his wrist back and it caught on the lip of Jan's shield exposing him. He jumped and kicked him in the face, doing a backflip with the leftover energy. Jan's sword went flying away and Casim pressed the attack, raking Jan and seeing his HP drop.

Lavender and jade green sparks flew as their styles clashed. The two Styles it seemed, were perfect for canceling each other out.

Cassim had to leap back to avoid Raiku's rapier and duck underneath Aden's swing, kicking the boy's feet out form under him. He raised his claws in front of him, expecting backup. There was none. Slowly, Casim lowered his claws and looked around. His seven subordinates were gone. "You, all of…" he couldn't speak.

Casim glanced at them and let the style fade. His claws slid back so they were on his arms again. "It seems you caught me. Allow me to leave. I will tell the Prince of Hell about you."

Merrik opened his mouth to say something, but Lyra cut in. "Yes, do so. Let him know that we're going to hunt down every red and make sure that those not clearing levels stay safe."

Casim tilted his head as he apprised her, "and what do I tell him you are, Lyra's soldiers?"

"No," Jan smirked, "that sounds rather corny."

"Red Hunters," Casim said suddenly.

Lyra smiled at the red player's idea. Clearers were called that because they cleared the dungeons and bosses. Red hunters they were, hunting red players. "Yes, tell him that. We shallt allow him to do something as ridiculous as this tax again."

Casim nodded, knowing better then to try her.

"What did you mean about the Sword Styles?" Jan asked, "That only Betas use them."

"Some of us figured out how to do Styles during the Beta Test. Kayaba probably thought that the styles were too OP so he locked down the ability. He let the Beta's retain the ability to do it, but no one new can learn it." Casim explained.

He remembered Lyra from that test. Her avatar had been pretty but this girl now looked dazzlingly beautiful with her blonde-white hair and bright blue eyes that had just a hint of lavender. That was how she looked in real life then. Impressive.

"Sounds like him," Raiku muttered.

"Go," Lyra flicked her saber.

Casim bowed, his gold eyes fluttering to Jan. "Next time, no back up."

Jan nodded, "it would be quite a fight."

Casim reached into his pouch and took out a teleport crystal, surprising the group. "Teleport: Frieven." Blue sparkled around him and he was gone.

The people that had gathered stared. Then someone clapped. More capped and a few whistles pierced the air as they cheered the group.

Jan, ever the theatrical one, bowed. Lyra glanced at him then thought, why not? and did the same. All of them did.

"Do I get a kiss now Lyra?" Jan whispered at her.

"No!"

* * *

 **Jan is quite a character. Here is the birth of the Red Hunters.**

 **I thought it weird that the Reds would be outside and the self-appointed protectors (AKA the Army) would just stand by, so i made it so they did more. That doesn't mean they can do much, just like when they went against the Floor 74 Boss.**


	8. Secret

"Merrik, are you sure about this?"

"No," Merrik smirked.

Lyra looked at him in disbelief. The five of them had formed a guild – the Red Hunters – and had devised a guild symbol. Theirs was a black beta symbol on a field of red edged with more black. The red had been Raiku's idea, they were red hunters so why not dress in red?

The beta symbol had been Lyra's. They were all beta's, and if people didn't appreciate that there were good betas then they didn't have to kill any red players. Simple as that and people had already shut up about Betas. It was nice.

Lyra's clothes were a different matter. She was dressed in a shirt with elbow-length sleeves colored blood red. A black shirt underneath it had long sleeves. Her boots were black, just like her pants and there was a black beta symbol over her heart. It was all form-fitting but it felt soft like silk instead of cotton as if they were dress clothes.

Merrik's craft level was high enough that she had even changed the appearance of Lyra's saber, giving the crystal blade an eerie red-black color that seemed to ripple from blood to shadows.

"I think it looks good on you," Jan smiled.

Lyra glared.

"Glad you think so Jan," Merrik replied smugly. He brought up his menu and gave Jan a gift. "There's a set for you to."

Jan stopped smiling and scowled.

"It's even got a color scheme that you can equip to your blade and shield." Merrik said as he shot off a set of uniforms to the twins.

Jan grumbled something under his breath.

"You might as well not bother Jan," Lyra warned him as she apprised herself in the floor-length mirror.

"Why are you still here?" Merrik asked Jan suddenly as he closed his menu.

"Eh?"

"Why are you still here Jan?" Merrik repeated. "Last time, after you saved me you ran away and hid in the Town of Beginnings. Are you staying put this time?"

The other guild members stopped and looked.

Jan looked down. "That was a poor move of me. I don't want to die and my HP bar dropped to yellow in the fight. I panicked. If the reds are bold enough that they're imposing taxes and are so cocky that they're not worried about Clearers, well, someone needs to knock them down a few notches. I won't run away again."

Lyra nodded, pleased. "Merrik, a word outside. You're no in trouble" she added when Merrik glanced at her. Merrik held the door open for her like a good gentleman as was his habit. They left the room and ducked into another one. The people in the Town of Beginnings they had saved had been so grateful that they had given them half an inn for free for a few days.

"Why did you want me to be guild leader?" She asked him once the door closed. "You and the twins said my name before I finished asking yesterday who should be Commander."

Merrik smiled. "It's like that red Casim said, Lyra's warriors. You're a good leader."

Lyra obviously didn't agree.

"What did you want to talk to me about then?" Merrik asked before she could say something else about how she wasn't a good leader.

"Why won't you become my Vice Commander?" Lyra crossed her arms and asked.

Merrik shrugged. "There are only five of us. We're not like the KoB or the Army. The chain of command isn't as important."

"First," Lyra corrected, "they're called the Aincrad Liberation Force and they don't like the nickname, as appropriate as it is. Second, I still need a second."

"Pick Jan," Merrik headed for the door.

Lyra caught his arm on the way there. "Why Jan? You were just accusing him of running away a moment ago."

"Everyone reacts to dangerous situations differently," Merrik tried to explain. "You react by taking command and getting things done. Most people panic and become selfish, hiding out to let others fight for them so they don't risk anything. Jan was part of the second group. He's come to his senses now, he'll make a good second."

"My original question was why won't you take the position, not why someone else should get it," Lyra corrected, steering him back on topic.

"You and Jan work together better." Merrik blinked, tugging him arm a bit to extract it. _And Jan likes you_ , Merrik thought. H _e's just too shy to admit it so he teases about wanting a kiss. You think he's just playing but you don't know he's being serious._ Forcing them to work together might be the thing that finally made them a pair.

"You're dodging the question again," Lyra accused.

"I'm very good at it," Merrik promised. "That's as much as you're going to get."

Lyra glared at him a moment more before relenting. She knew already just how stubborn Merrik could be. With a sigh she went back to the room with her guild and was met with a startling surprise. The other Red Hunters were in uniform, weapons and all.

Merrik chuckled quietly as he walked in behind her, having changed into his uniform to. The system automatically made all clothing fit the wearer perfectly and the style and colors looked amazing.

The most Lyra knew about style was not to mix red shirt and orange pants and that khaki went with everything, but even she could tell that this was good. She smiled, noting Jan's shied had changed to match the guild flag exactly and that the silver hilt of his longsword was now black with rubies. He looked nice though he tugged at the sleeves awkwardly. His shirt was designed differently then hers – all of them were – but the overall style and color scheme matched making them into a unified group. One thing that was the same was that they all had a Beta symbol over their hearts in plain view for all to see.

"Well," Raiku sighed, "now that we're all dressed up, how about someone goes and gets ingredients so I can cook up lunch. My cook skill is fairly high."

"I'll go," Jan raised a hand, "I get to show off my new uniform."

"I might as well come to," Merrik relaxed.

"I'll come to," Aden piped up. "If I don't, Raiku will just put me to work."

"Will not," Raiku snapped.

"Sure you won't brother," Aden grumbled, "Picky."

Raiku threw Aden a recorder crystal sharply. This one was meant to show a visual message instead of audio. "Bring everything on the list back, and make sure the foods not about to expire!"

"See! I told you. I'm not even out the door and he's already being picky!"

* * *

Raiku grumbled to himself after the three had left. Lyra was sitting on the balcony looking over the town they had just rescued.

Raiku opened his menu with a flick of the wrist and looked at his inventory. He needed rosemary and mint to make his secret spice. The recipe had been perfected in the real world and he had discovered that he could duplicate the delicious seasoning in Aincrad. Hmm, what else did he need for a meal?

"Raiku?"

Raiku jumped sharply enough that his menu auto-closed and he reached for a rapier he didn't have equipped.

Lyra held her hands up. "Relax, I'm no red. I didn't mean to scare you that badly."

Raiku took a breath. "When I start working on my cooking I get involved in it."

Lyra smiled, "I just wanted to know if you need any help in here."

Raiku shook his head, "no, cooking in Aincrad here is simplified. It's really easy."

Lyra nodded.

"You knew that already didn't you?" Raiku asked.

Lyra looked down. "I wondered if there was anything you wanted to tell me?"

A thrill of fear shot through Raiku, "like what?"

Lyra leaned against the doorframe. "During the fight with Malik you opened your menu, but it was far too large to be a player menu. It was more like an administrator or game manager. One that would have the authority to log everyone out if they wanted to."

Raiku stepped back fearfully, banging into the stove. "N-n-no. It's not like that. Uncle didn't give me very high privileges." He bit his tongue when he said uncle. Stupid!

"Who's your uncle?" Lyra pushed.

Raiku said nothing. My HP can't drop as long as I'm within the boundaries of a town. I'm safe.

"Raiku," Lyra whispered. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're one of my guild and whatever secret you're keeping can't be as bad as all that."

"It is," Raiku promised.

Lyra didn't move.

Raiku sighed. "First, I promise that I only have Level 1 Admin privileges so I can't override Kayaba's order. I can't log anyone out or turn into an immortal object or do anything like that."

Lyra nodded.

"Second, my name in real life is Reiji," Raiku looked down, "Kayaba Reiji." He braced for a shout.

Lyra only blinked. "Kayaba? You mean the-"

"One that trapped everyone in here," Raiku muttered morosely. "He told me and Aden not to be part of the premier opening but he never gave us a reason so we went ahead. When the logout feature disappeared we were trapped to. His new directives didn't interfere with my admin account and I found out that I could access them. I also found out that I only got to use them once."

"What do you mean once?" Lyra asked. Her calm voice surprised herself.

"The system that runs Aincrad, Cardinal, doesn't know I have admin privileges." Raiku explained. "Right now, I can look and see things players can't. If I try and use my admin for anything more than looking Cardinal will detect it as a flaw and delete it. My Administrator privileges are tied to my main account so if that is deleted I'll…" His voice trailed off.

"So I can't use them, yet." Raiku thought about it, and then decided to tell Lyra his full plan. "Aincrad was designed with access points – stone blocks in some of the dungeons – that Game Managers can use to directly speak to Cardinal. If I could find one then I could use my privileges to access it and log everyone out. Then it won't matter that my account will be deleted."

Lyra hopped up onto the counter and sat there, lost in thought. "Are you his son?"

"No," Raiku guessed who she was talking about. "Kayaba's our uncle. Our parents were killed a few years ago so Akihiko adopted us. That's why we have his family name."

"Does Aden have these privileges?"

Raiku shook his head. "He knows about them though. Kayaba designed the floating world of Aincrad and the red castle on top but he needed help to fill in the other 99 floors. Me and Aden helped design the levels, monsters, rules, skills, even the dungeon bosses. I helped uncle code the game though. I tested out the NerveGear."

"You were the first Beta tester?" Lyra blinked.

Raiku nodded slowly. "This subroutine that has made death real – I should have noticed it. I helped him check the coding before the launch. All of the deaths that have happened, everything, is because I wasn't aware enough to notice that there was one subroutine that didn't fit into a category. I've found out recently that Kayaba named the routine ' _Death Game_.' Fitting isn't it?" Raiku gave a short laugh. "Very fitting…"

Lyra silently jumped back to the floor and set a hand on Raiku's shoulder. Raiku looked up. "It was not only your fault. There are hundreds to blame, especially your uncle. Do not blame yourself."

"If I had noticed though…" Raiku pleaded.

"Then Kayaba would have found a different way to do trap us." Lyra assured him. "If your uncle is even a fifth as stubborn as you or Aden you know that is true."

Raiku looked down.

"This way, you are here," Lyra smiled. "And you said it yourself there's a chance you can log everyone out. You've already killed plenty of reds and saved countless lives, especially here in the Town of Beginnings."

"Didn't you hear me? I helped design the game! I helped code the damn thing!" Raiku shouted.

"I heard," Lyra hummed. "That means you know things about the game, don't you? What the monster's going to be, what the next floor will be like." A though struck her suddenly. "How to beat the Floor Monsters."

"Everything's different," Raiku muttered. "Especially the dungeons. All I can give you are the main overviews, no details."

Lyra thought about it. "That might be enough."

"We're back!" Aden shouted.

Lyra tilted her head and walked back to the doorframe, looking into the adjoining room.

"You're not mad at me," Raiku risked asking.

Lyra shook her head no without turning around.

Raiku visibly relaxed.

"Hey! We got a newspaper! We made the headlines and so did the Clearers, they're on Floor 11 still," Aden continued.

Still? Oh no, Lyra thought. Don't tell me they tried again. How many did they lose this time? Worriedly, Lyra went to Aden's voice. Raiku followed after a moment.

Merrik was setting down the groceries and didn't look up from his task. Jan shot her a sad look.

Lyra took the paper from Aden and flipped past the headline that said _"Guild of Betas called Red Hunters Saves Floor One."_ On the second page the headlines were less cheery. "Clearers Fail Floor Eleven Again, Nine Dead," she read aloud. "Nine? That's more than last time. There should be less now, not more, they've had a chance to see the boss's strategy." She let Raiku tug the paper from her hands.

"The Wild Whistler on Floor Eleven?" Raiku asked, "He's not where he's supposed to be."

"He's also go an extra set of hands. And swords," Merrik added.

"Well, yeah, the Beta Test was supposed to be an easy version. That wasn't the actual game programming of Sword Art Online. That was set on an easier setting. Plus the whole it's okay to die thing that doesn't apply anymore."

"Do you know how to beat it Riaku?" Lyra asked seriously.

Raiku shook his head. "I could see it in action with my admin I might get a more detailed description on how to kill it but that's all."

Aden tensed when Raiku said admin and he shot his twin a bewildered look.

"I told Lyra," Raiku told his twin.

"You what?" Aden hissed.

"I don't hold it against you to. No child has control of who their parents are – or their uncle," Lyra tried to assure him.

Aden looked faint.

"What are you talking about?" Jan asking, glancing from Lyra to Aden to Raiku.

Aden glanced at Lyra but Lyra said only shrugged, "It's your choice."

"I'm telling them," Raiku promised Aden. "Lyra's alright with it."

Aden bit his lip.

Raiku turned to address the other three members of the guild. "First, you should know that I do not have the power to log myself or anyone else out. Second, our real names are Reiji and Tai Kayaba."

* * *

Jan sat on top of the roof, staring over the town where the world outside the walls was only a green smudge on the horizon. He saw Lyra grab the edge of the roof, and swing herself up to it. She walked over to Jan and sat next to him without a word.

"Do you believe Raiku means well?" Jan asked after a moment of quiet.

"Yes," Lyra promised.

Jan gave a small laugh. "My first instinct was to grab my sword, but it doesn't exactly do much inside of a town's safe zone."

"Raiku can use his admin privileges to observe The Wild Whistler in action. He will likely catch something we missed and figure out how to kill it," Lyra leaned her arms behind her. "He's willing to try. He can't use his admin when there are other players around or he'll be exposed. If you think about how other players react to us Betas for having a one-month lead can you imagine what they will do if they find out the twins are Kayaba's nephews and helped design and code the game itself?"

Jan sighed and pulled a leg close to him, resting his head on it. "I didn't think about that. Did you already calm everyone else down?"

Lyra nodded. "Will you give him a chance? Just a chance Jan that's all I'm asking."

Jan snorted and looked away. It was a while before he responded. "Fine," he spoke softly. "For you Lyra. I'll do I for you."

Lyra leaned over and gave him a slight kiss on the cheek. Jan tensed in shock as she stood and jumped back down to the balcony.

Then he sighed. "Well, I finally got my kiss I guess."

* * *

 **Ta Da! A new guild sorted out, new headlines, and a new secret come to light. Lyra's managing everything so far, with some trouble.**


	9. Error

Lyra looked at the blue teleport crystal and replaced it back into her pouch. Before her was the door to the Floor 11 boss and behind her were her guild. Raiku was the furthest away. "Everyone ready?"

The other Red Hunters nodded. They all had teleport crystals. If the whole group of Clearers couldn't beat the Wild Whistler then there was no way their small group of five could, but they at least could hold out long enough for Raiku to look into the bosses abilities with his admin account.

Slowly, Lyra pushed open the door to the Boss Lair, saber ready. Just like last time it was dark. They walked in. Music pierced the total silence, a mournful song. When they were far enough in blue torches lit up and the Wild Whistler appeared.

"Aden stay with Raiku. Everyone else, attack him directly," Lyra ordered.

They split up. Raiku hovered near the doorway and sat down, opening his admin screen and playing around with the windows. A 3-D image appeared in front of Raiku of The Wild Whistler. "Go!" He shouted.

They wouldn't be able to do much damage to it, the Red Hunters knew that already, they were just buying time long enough for Raiku to get the scan. They had barely began to make a dent in the boss when The Wild Whistler froze. His cloak was in mid-twirl from a spin and his fingers half-raising to shift to another note.

What in the? The torches turned red and a whining crescendo could be heard. Error messages popped up on the walls and roof, their lettering flashing red.

"What is going on?" Jan shouted over the noise.

"I have no idea," Lyra shook her head, "Raiku?!"

"The system's detected me!" Raiku slashed his screen closed. He grabbed his teleport crystal out of his pouch, "Teleport: Town of Beginnings!"

He disappeared.

Unsure what to do, as they looked at the dungeon the other guild members followed his lead.

They materialized near the stone gateway that stood in the courtyard of the town. Raiku didn't even wait for them. When they materialized he was already running.

"Brother!" Aden called, taking off after him.

Really confused, the others followed the twins back to their temporary base. Their easily identified uniforms evoked awe from the other players and they respectfully stepped aside so they could run unhindered. They probably assumed they were running to a call of a red player attack.

"Raiku!" Aden shouted when Raiku bolted up the stairs. "Raiku!"

Raiku was sitting on the ground, trembling.

"Hey?" Aden leaned forward and touched his twin. "Are you alright? What happened back there?"

"Cardinal detected me." Raiku answered. "It identified me as a cheater so it froze the battle. I-I won't be able to do that again. For any boss, sorry…"

"Not your fault," Lyra shrugged. "Did you get anything?"

Riaku held out a recorder crystal hand trembling. Aden took it and passed it to Lyra. "Why did you freak out like that brother?"

"The Cardinal system is the support system that makes sure Aincrad functions as it should. It identified me as a glitch that needed to be terminated in order to ensure smooth gameplay," Raiku bit his lip and clenched his hands. "It started to delete me when I teleported out of its sight. There's nowhere for me to hide. If I use my admin privileges again it will delete me. It might not even be safe for me to open the screen now."

Lyra closed the screen on the recorder crystal. "The info you got is good Raiku. I'll give it to Asuna. You did well. With this, Asuna should be able to organize a raid to defeat it." She hesitated, wanting to calm him down. How do you comfort someone who almost got deleted by a game _they_ created?

She couldn't. Maybe Aden could. "Come on," she whispered to the rest of the guild. Let's give the brothers some peace."

* * *

"Hey Lyra? I don't know if now is a good time but I got a new idea for the Guild symbol..."

"You what Merrik? Now is an interesting time. How's Raiku?"

"Aden's calmed him down. Here, look."

"… Hmm. What does it stand for exactly?"

"One for each of our kills."

"Clever, very clever."

* * *

Asuna let the wind ruffle her brown hair a bit, taking a brief moment to relax.

"Not often I see you away from the front," Lyra commented coolly as she walked up beside her "friend."

"At least I am on the front." Asuna gibed back. Tension had arisen between the two about many subjects.

"I tried," Lyra shrugged, "you saw the response. The uniform suits you though far better than it would me." I'm not quite enough of an obedient little player enough to wear one.

Asuna glanced down at her white clothes. "You would not be able to wear a uniform." You have neither the discipline nor the respect.

Lyra materialized Raiku's recorder crystal out of her inventory and passed it to Asuna. "Here, like I promised, information about The Wild Whistler."

Asuna obviously didn't believe that it would be useful but opened the crystal anyway. Her eyes widened as she looked at the information. It listed the Boss's attacks and its weakness. "This is-how did you get this!"

"It's hard to explain," Lyra shrugged. "And my source is gone now so it's irrelevant." Asuna would likely just assume that the player was dead.

"I see," Asuna whispered, closing the crystal. "This will help. Are you sure you will not change your mind about Heathcliff's offer?"

"White isn't my color," Lyra promised. "Besides, I'm already a member of a guild."

"The Red Hunters," Asuna sighed. "So the newspaper says. You made the front page."

"Let us help you take on The Wild Whistler, Asuna," Lyra implored. "My guild and I are strong. As Beta's we can use Sword Styles."

"It is because you are Beta's that tension arises," Asuna shook her head. "I will not stop you though if you wish to come. Give me a day and then meet at the same inn again at 9am. I will message the other Clearers."

"Don't tell them we're going to be there," Lyra inputted.

"I won't." If she did, then half of them wouldn't show up. Asuna had nothing against Betas, but the new knowledge of their access to Sword Styles made her wary. What other powerful secrets did they have that they weren't sharing with the others?

Lyra didn't look like much, she stood only 5'4'' and was dressed in plain green and gray clothes that she had likely collected one piece at a time on Floor 8 until she had the entire set. With her saber sheathed and its crystal light hidden, it too, looked plain. She wasn't in uniform. Asuna wanted to underestimate her, but couldn't quite manage it.

"We'll be there," Lyra promised. "All of us."

* * *

 **I just realized as i was looking over my story just how short the chapters and the story in general are so sorry. My stuff is usually way longer. sorry about the eradict updates, but i've been driving over to my new college (which is in Arizona and i'm normally in Texas) and getting used to dorm. I'll try to keep my updates up, but school work is going to come first so i have no idea how often i can update. I'll try my best.**

 **The Asuna in this story is the Asuna before she meets Kirito and learns to relax. Right now she's just clear, clear, clear, and is counting the days she's missing in the real world. She's pretty no nonsense and Lyra's relaxed attitude sort of grates.**

 **Notice how she's not wearing her uniform. Lyra wants to surprise the other players.**


	10. Red Hunters Glory

The people on the Eleventh Floor looked in surprise at the group that walked down the street. One walked in front and the others fell in a step behind. Everyone knew who they were. They _had_ just made the front page.

Typically, only the leader of a guild or party attended the meeting as the representative for their group. There were so many groups attending that the numbers had to be cut down in order for everyone to fit, and most everyone was wearing clanky armor. This group however, did not bother to do that.

The other Clearers looked at them in surprise. There were KoB and Divine Dragon, Klein was present with his group and there were solo players and other small guilds. Asuna walked out to greet them. She stopped in surprise.

"That looks fitting for your guild," Kirito complimented.

Lyra dipped her head in acknowledgment. The other four members of the Red Hunters stood at something similar to attention. The color of their clothes was as red as blood and black as night. Their Beta symbol was worn in the open.

"Red Hunter Guild reporting in to aid in the defeat of The Wild Whistler," Lyra introduced.

"You are, you are Beta's!" A Divine Dragon said. It was the same one that had started trouble last time.

"Truly?" Lyra feigned surprise. "I never would have guessed."

Klein couldn't help but snicker as he looked at the new guild. The system realized he was focusing on Lyra, so her HP bar came up. Under it was the word Commander. To the left of it was the symbol of her guild. It was shaped like a shield, red with a black border and Beta symbol in the middle. Above the symbol was the number 20.

"Oi, what's the number for?" Klein called out. "I only see five members."

"That's how many red players we have killed," Lyra responded. "All of our totals put together. That number will continue to increase. I would rather it not, but many players have had their cursors painted orange."

"20 kills? For a group of five players?" The Dragon leader whispered. The girl who had the word Commander under her HP bar seemed far too much of a lightweight, and none of her members were even in armor.

Lyra nodded. "Players we can handle. As for monsters… seven died while Merrik and I were here. Nine died when we left. Fighting players is a lot harder than fighting monsters whose movements are already set by the system. With the five of us we should be able to put a dent in the boss."

"We need more than a dent," another called.

"That's what the rest of you are for!" Lyra smiled. "Besides, you get to see our Sword Styles in action. That should help even the odds." Her expression turned serious. She drew her saber, equipped with the red and black color scheme. "Unless you think we can't fight. I'll duel anyone that wants a fight."

No one responded. If what Lyra said was true, then her specialty was in fighting players.

"Asuna, may I come in? I shall stand as the speaker for my guild," Lyra looked at her. Still think I can't wear a uniform?

"Fine," Asuna admitted. "Let's just begin our meeting. We're burning time."

* * *

One of the KoB ran between a lightning bolt and its target letting his shield take the damage so it wouldn't hit the attacking player. Lyra didn't let herself slack on the attack but she thanked the player mentally for jumping in. _The trick for the lightning is for a group with high attack to attack, and another squad with high defense run interception on the lightning so the attackers can fight in peace._ So Raiku's information said. Two bars of The Wild Whistler's HP were left. It had its swords out, whistling all the while.

She fell in step with Jan and Raiku. "Eclipse Style," she shouted to them, saber turning white. They obliged, pausing in their attack for the Skill to charge. "Back up," she shouted a warning to the other attackers. They quickly did so.

Her four fell in step with her. Kirito had already told them that he was one of the about half of Beta's that hadn't figured out how to do Styles in the Beta Test and so couldn't do them now.

They paused for a moment as the Skill charged and then jumped as The Wild Whistler swung all his blades at them. They danced away from them with ease, barely varying their course from the Boss. The four of the Red Hunters with blades engaged The Wild Whistler's four scimitars while Aden went for the boss himself.

The Combo had eleven moves and Aden attacked in unison, his power of one multiplying from the other four using it. Red pixels flew. The Boss's swords were too busy to defend. _While one group engages the boss directly, another needs to attack the boss from the back while the Style attacks him from the front._

Their combo ended and the Red Hunters fell back. The KoB that had been attacking his back spun away to. _He will put his back against the wall after getting blindsided and use the swords to send out energy waves. So long as you do not attempt to flee, he will not use the big energy wave that he did where the swords were in the diamond pattern._

All four of the Boss's swords glowed white-red and he swung them at varying intervals towards the players. _You can't block them, you have to dodge them. The best way to do that is to jump over them or go flat on the ground to duck it._ Crescents flew, trailing white and all of the heavy shield bearers went low. Everyone else went high.

They ran towards the crescents, precisely timing their jumps to dodge it. _Once he turns to the energy crescents alone he will not create any more lightning so all players can focus on attacking him._

 _The energy crescents only affect a certain part of the Lair at a time so we should be able to stagger out attacks so one group attacks while the others dodge._ Kirito took Squad A, Lyra Squad B, Asuna Squad C, and Klein Squad D. One squad attacked while the others dodged energy waves and moved closer for a strike of their own. Their tactic was not perfect, players were getting hit and heal crystals were being used. If anyone went for the door or teleported out the Boss would unleash its most deadly attack with the swords in a diamond shape so everyone was stuck here.

 _Its tactic will not change anymore once it switches to this attack pattern. We just have to kill it then._

Merrik jumped in front of Lyra as she ducked low on her strike and raised his sword above his head. The blade turned red. He came down stupendously and the Boss stopped attacking. It shrieked like a banshee and shattered.

All of the players stopped, some midstrike. A moment later, a screen appeared saying "Floor 11 Cleared!" Screens appeared in front of everyone detailing their wins. The assembled players relaxed as they realized they had won.

Merrik had gotten the Last Attack drop. He looked at the item he gained. "Shadow Scimitar," he whispered and tapped equip, curious.

His sword disappeared from his hand and a new one materialized. "Whoa." It was a broadsword, its blade black. Black shadows seemed to swirl just beneath the surface of the metal. A lightning bolt was etched into the blade that seemed to glitter depending on the angle of light. He grinned and raised the blade. "Nice."

Lyra smiled and sat down, saber by her side.

The Divine Dragon Commander that had caused all the problems walked over and kneeled next to her. "Can all Beta's use those Styles?"

"No," Lyra shook her head, fingers near the hilt of her saber in case he tried anything. "Only some of us figured out how to do it on the Beta Test. Only those that did can do it now. There were so few Beta's in the test that we never made guilds. The only parties we had were for fighting Bosses or scouting dungeons. Working solo, most never learned how to do Styles which are only effective in large groups."

"Rin," the Commander finally introduced. "A lot of Beta's are bad but you guys aren't. You're good, in more ways than one. If you Red Hunters ever need help, my Dragons will be there."

"Thank you," Lyra smiled.

Merrik had somehow found the energy to try out a few Sword Skills with his new blade and he enjoyed himself. Everyone else watched, amazed that he could move.

There was a creaking noise, and Merrik paused his attack. Everyone looked at the door to the next level as it opened. Floor 12 was open.

Merrik finally put his new sword onto his back, and crossed his arms curiously as he looked at the doorway of white light that led to Floor 12.

"Hey," he called back to his scattered teammates. "Come on, let's see what's next."

"Merrik…" Raiku sighed.

"Come on, just a quick look."

Lyra shook her head and stood. The other Red Hunters helped each other to their feet and walked to him. Ahead was the new Floor. They walked through it, ready to continue their fight for freedom.

 **The End**

 **To Be Continued In...**

 _Once a Red Always a Red_

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 **Again i'm sorry for the general shortness of the chapters and stories. The next story should be longer. I didn't mention this, but i have a lot more stories then just Sword Art Online. If you like this story you can check out my others.**

 **The diamond pattern mentioned was the same one used at the end of chapter 3 if there's any confusion on that.**

 **I actually don't have a whole lot to say... If you have any questions PM me or leave a review with a question as part of the review. Please leave reviews. If i'm making a continual mistake or something tell me. If i never get reviews from my readers then i don't know how to make my work better. Just don't leave a Flame review. I don't need to be burned because i'm not perfect.**

 **Thank You and keep reading!**


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